Chapter 6
"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I got too absorbed," she scratched her head. Her voice was huskier than I imagined it to be.
"That's okay, Miss Satsuki. One can feel very happy to come back home after a very long period of time," I smiled at her. She seemed to be taken aback.
"How do you know my name? Have we ever met before?" She asked back. She had a rather cute face.
"No, but I've heard about you from my Dear Sir," I replied, quietly clapping my hands together. The action was a habit of mine; it just came out naturally. "I apologize. I guess it was rude to act as if I knew you before I introduced myself properly. My name is Meroune Lorelei Du Neptune," I bowed a bit as I lifted my skirt weakly with my fingers, revealing my tail. "Please call me Mero. I am currently residing at your brother's house as an exchange student of the extraspecies exchange program."
"Huh?" She seemed quite surprised. I first thought that she was surprised at the fact that I was a mermaid. "Why would a princess like yourself come as an exchange student to my brother's place? Did he find a gold mine or something while I was gone and became super rich? I don't remember our family having anything to do with royalty or whatsoever."
"Wait a bit," I stopped her. How did she know that I was a princess? "How do you know that I'm a princess? Our kingdom's most influential members are concealed from human public!"
"That wasn't too hard to find out. Oh my gosh," she struggled as she started to move herself from the bed to get in a kneeling position and bow. It seemed difficult, regarding her physical injuries. "Forgive me and my manners, your highness. I had no intention of insolence."
"Please don't. I beg you!" I stopped her, flailing my arms. I didn't want anyone to serve me as a princess while I was in this program. I was fed up with all those manners. "Please, just call me Mero. That's what everyone in this house calls me. And please, don't bow. You're still a patient, you should be resting. Besides," I said, as I helped her lie down again. Her way of speaking and acting seemed much more mature than a 13 year old. "I don't want anyone to treat me like royalty while I'm in this program, especially you, Miss Satsuki. You're my Dear Sir's younger sister." I could feel my face turning a bit red at the mention of him.
"Wait a minute. There are other people in this house? How many? Are they exchange students too? And 'Dear Sir'? Did my brain go a bit crazy, or did you actually call my brother like that? And…" She seemed like she was totally taken by surprise. Which is… Well, I should admit that it completely made sense.
"Calm down a bit, Miss Satsuki. I can't answer all of those questions at once."
"Okay, I'll ask one at a time," she said, her face still looking surprised, but a bit more relaxed. "But after you take out the 'Miss' in front of my name when you call me."
"But I'm used to putting a 'Miss' in front of names, Miss Satsuki," I protested. "It's uncomfortable for me not to use it anymore."
"Fine, then. I'll call you in your full name from now on. I'll even add a 'princess' in front of it to make it totally formal."
"Hey!"
"Let's make a deal then," she said. She made a crooked smile. I could see that while she had that smile, she was not a young girl that could be easily messed up with. "I call you Mero, and you call me Satsuki. Deal?" She offered her hand.
I sighed. "Okay…" I reluctantly accepted her hand and shook it. She was totally different from her brother. Yes. Totally different.
"Okay then, Mero, question number one. If I am in my brother's house, why is it so freaking big? The living room itself got at least three times bigger!"
"Oh, that's because Dear Sir accepted a lot of exchange students to live in this house. There are six-no, seven, exchange students including me living in this house."
"Whoa," She seemed like she was about to add another exclamation at the end, but she stopped herself. "Okay, then. Who are these other six exchange students?"
I went on explaining about my 6 housemates. I could see her twitch her eyebrows whenever I started talking about a new one and their species, but she didn't show any more reaction than that. At least there's one similarity between her and her brother. They both are good at accepting the fact that there is a lamia, harpy, centaur, mermaid, slime, arachne, and a dullahan residing in their house. Thinking about it, she didn't seem to be too surprised to find out that I was a mermaid before. So she had her brother's best quality.
She seemed very alarmed to hear that all of them were girls, though.
"Seriously?" She asked, and I had to give her an affirmative nod. "Wow." I couldn't help myself from blushing at that point. Although she didn't say anything, I had a feeling that she already kind of knew the relationship between us.
"Please don't get the wrong idea, though. It's not like…"
"Oh, oh, I get it." She interrupted. "Sure, sure." I could swear that she most certainly didn't get it. "I guess I'll just have to ask bro myself. Jeez, he got himself into some stuff. Say, who does all the cooking?"
"Um… Dear Sir."
"The laundry?"
"…Dear sir."
"The dishes? The cleaning?"
"We do help out every once in a while, but… mostly Dear sir does all the work."
"Holy shit, he got himself into some serious stuff."
I had to laugh at that point. I was starting to like her more and more
"We try to help out, but we just end up making more trouble, so…"
"Okay then, that's cool. He makes a good housewife anyway. But then, if there are so many people in this house, where are they?"
"Oh, today is a Saturday, and on Saturdays all of them go to Sports Club Kobold to work out."
"Sports Club Kobold? Is it a name for a fitness center or something?"
"Yes, but it was made especially for all kinds of extraspecies! Apparently since we can't move outside without our host family, we don't get enough exercise, so we decided to go there every Saturday, when Dear Sir doesn't have to work on his part time job."
"Things have changed a lot, haven't they," she murmured. She soon spoke again in her regular voice. "But then, how come you didn't go with them?"
"We recently renovated the house, making my pool extra large so that I could get enough exercise inside the house…"
"…Uh, our house now has an indoor pool?"
"Yes, it was renovated that way so that I could stay here. And besides, someone had to stay behind, just in case you, Mi-no, Satsuki, woke up."
"You had to stay out of the fun because of me? I'm really sorry. I really am. Why don't you go join them right now? I'll spend some time alone, looking around the house." She seemed sincerely apologetic. There was another similarity between her and her brother. I was quite afraid to face her if she were to wake up when I was alone. I guess I have been worrying for nothing.
"No need to do so, Mi-Satsuki." Not putting a 'Miss' in front of the name was challenging. "It's not like we have a lot of fun while we're there; the owner is very energetic and kind, but quite strict. Besides, as I told you, I have a really big pool. And I can't go out without my host family accompanying me."
"I forgot about that law. Pretty inconvenient, huh?" She made a face. It somehow resembled the face of her brother. "When do they return?"
"Actually, it's about time they came back. I'm pretty sure they'll come back any time now-"
Before I could finish my sentence, I could hear the door opening. Both of our heads headed to the direction of the sound. Her head moved in an impressive speed that for a moment I was worried she might break her neck.
"We're back home!"
"Mero-!"
Miss Papi was the first one to come into sight. She rushed, no, half-flew into the house. She was always energetic, and it seems like a nice workout in the right place put some more energy in her. I just hope she doesn't accidently crash into the wall or someth-
Thump
"Ow, ow, oww!"
Oh dear. I sighed, and I could hear that I wasn't the only one sighing. The sound of comments, sighing, and walking grew louder, and they soon came close enough so that I could see them.
"Yup, another head-butt into the wall."
"And I thought I warned her enough."
"Really, Papi…"
"Papi, are you okay?"
I rolled my wheelchair closer to them.
"Welcome back, everyone!"
"Hey there, Mero. Did anything special happen in particular?"
"Dear Sir, she woke up."
"What? Already?"
He quickly turned his gaze from me towards the hammock bed. I also looked over, only to find Miss Satsuki, sitting upright. The afternoon sunlight that came through the windows was shining from behind her, giving her a somewhat glorious presence. She was looking towards this direction as well, and her eyes were focused on one person. She smiled weakly and held her right hand.
"Hey there, bro. Long time no see, huh? It's been like, maybe two-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence. Dear Sir rushed towards her, in a speed that seemed even faster than Miss Papi's a moment ago. Miraculously, he somehow avoided hitting the furniture before he caught his sister in a tight embrace that made her stop speaking. The rest of us, astonished by the sudden speed, just stood in our places that only gave a clear view of his back. The brother and sister stayed just like that with no movement for a few seconds, until we could see his shoulders shaking.
Yes, he was crying.
"Thank God," he somehow made out those words as he sobbed. He was nearly choking. He sniffed once before he spoke his next two words. "You're back." Without loosening his embrace, he stayed like that for quite a long time, his shoulders shaking and his voice trembling.
Up to that point, I still couldn't get the fantasies of tragedies out of my mind. Although I wanted a happy ending for myself, I still wanted a bit of tragedy within it. But the thing I witnessed that day changed me. The sight of a truly perfect happy ending that makes people burst out in tears of happiness was something that I have never seen before, and I doubt that I would be able to see anything like that ever again. It was the most beautiful scene I've ever seen, and no scene from The Little Mermaid will be able to surpass its beauty. I smiled as I watched the reunion in silence. My heart tickled from giving up one of its oldest desires. I have changed.